Personal Post: Top Video Games of the Decade (2010-2019)

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 To think that ten years have already come and gone. As we head into the 2020’s we must take the time to reflect and plan from where we were in 2010 to where we are now to where we want to be in the future. But that’s a bit too overwhelming and philosophical for this guy so let’s instead talk about the best video games of the decade. Now this is all my list covering games that I’ve personally played that were released in the United States that year so if you don’t see your game of that year on here leave a comment and let me know how much of a non gamer I am. Also there won’t be any compilations or collections on this list so no Mega Man X Legacy Collection, Bioshock collection or anything like that. 

 Nor will I put any game on here just for the critical acclaim that they’ve received or what everybody else thinks should be on the list for that year or anything like that. If you want that go to IGN where they’ve most likely put Ocarina of Time 3DS on their list because it’s expected and everyone is a Emperor Damned Sheep. No my choices are ones that I either really do love or have a personal attachment to me as a gamer and as a person. Though to give you all hopefully some idea of what kind of gamer I am here’s the list of the runners up for their respective years.

2010 God of War 3/ Bioshock 2

2011 infamous 2

2013 Project X Zone/Bioshock Infinite/ SMT4 

2014 Persona Q Shadow of the Labyrinth/Ni No Kuni

2016 SMT 4 apocalypse

2017 Persona 5/ Pokémon Sun

2018 Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise/ Bendy and the Ink Machine (PS4)/ Ni No Kuni 2/ Mega Man 11

2019 Luigi’s Mansion 3

Now that you have a taste here’s what I consider to be the best games of the decade in the year of their release.

 Starting off with 2010 I’m going with the release of my very first non Persona SMT game Shin Megami Tensai Strange Journey. With Persona 4 I discovered my favorite franchise and fittingly enough Strange Journey was my first step into the wider SMT catalogue. The best way to describe the transition from the two was like one minute you were watching Diamond is Unbreakable and the next; a remake of Saving Private Ryan written by Alan Moore. Strange Journey introduced me to the negotiation system, a more serious story, even harder bosses, but slamming difficulty and the moral choices between Law, Neutral and Chaos that the wider SMT games are known for. Now I know that this game got remade in 2018 and while I do love it to pieces and consider it essential for your 3DS collection the original is more personal to me and while I will definitely recommend the 3DS version the original game is what I will remember 2010 for, when I took a chance, chose my unit and ventured forth into a strange and dangerous land and will carry those experiences with me forever.

 2011 however will be much shorter since honesty I would rather keep any positive comments toward Konami at a bare minimum considering how they are the pinnacle of the Japanese Hell Company and thus earns my unyielding hatred. Downpour contributing to that as well when Konami tried to release this game, Book of Lost Memories and the horrendous Silent Hill HD collection during the aptly named month of Madness. The last hurrah of the Silent Hill franchise; Downpour was the spiritual follow up to Silent Hill 2 that Homecoming tried and failed so hard to be. Though it did have its flaws with the Otherworld segments being reduced to running away from a red vortex for a few minutes to the breakable weapons the spirit of what Silent Hill should be still shined through without having to lean on nostalgia. Plus it was one of the few games that acknowledges that Silent Hill 4 existed so there’s that. So; short and sweet, this game is underrated and #FucKonami.

 Now I did say that compilations are off the list but that doesn’t mean that remakes of the same game with new original content were excluded. So that means that I can put Persona 4 Golden as my pick of 2012 no problem. Oh the poor PS Vita, a lovely little handheld that Sony sadly neglected. Before the Switch came around this was as close as we could get to having full console quality video games on the go, with the enhanced rerelease of Persona 4 being the pinnacle of that notion. With this game I will forever refer to the PS Vita as the Persona 4 Golden machine.

 Aside from that Persona 4 Gold is basically Persona 4 only portable with new content, simple as that. And if you have a problem with that (other than "please port it to a system that more than a few people own so everyone can enjoy it aside from watch let’s plays") let me know. Not much else to say but it’s Jojo’s BizzaRPG 4 on the go, what’s not to love?

 Now 2013 was a great year for the 3DS with Project X Zone introducing me to new franchises I was only casually aware of to SMT4 my first proper mainline SMT game. But for me I have to give that spot to the game that got me back to a childhood classic, Pokémon X. I skipped generations 4 and 5 simply because I was kind of bored with Pokémon by that point so seeing as I had a new 3DS and needed games for my library I figured what the heck and now I was literally back in the game. Just seeing all of the Pokémon in 3D on a proper portable console invoked the expected reaction. 

 Not much else to say except it was the game I needed at the right time, sometimes you can come home again. Except for now when Nintendo, game deal or whoever decided to do what they did with Pokémon Home, absolutely unforgivable!

 2014 however was a rough year for me personally. This was the year that I finished my one year game design course at the New York Film academy and started to get into the real world. I didn’t have a job for months so until that came around I had quite a bit of time on my hands. And after the emotional roller coaster I needed a pick me up and Studio Ghibli and Level 5 gave me that with Ni No Kuni, Wrath of the White Witch. It’s a cliche to say that certain video games are like playing an interactive movie, but it’s true Ni No Kuni gives you the chance to play an actual Studio Ghibli movie with all the tropes, proper hand drawn art style and the whimsy, wonder and magic that comes with it. 

 Now as much as I love this game I do have some problems with it. Actually completing the game is an absolute nightmare with getting all the Familiars, creating all the items from the Genie, fighting the super boss and completing the Solosseum was just too much for me to bear back then. Speaking of the Familiars I was not a big fan of that, you’re supposed to be a newly minted Wizard with your new companions yet you have little monsters to do all the work for you, sounds pretty weak to me. Completion problems aside this game and Studio Ghibli remind us that sometimes it’s always darkest before dawn, even if Miyazaki himself can be a grumpy asshole.

 2015 was one of the tougher years to pick out though that was mostly due to the lack of games that I was interested in. But there was one game that I was waiting for, the conclusion to the Arkham trilogy; Batman Arkham Knight. While I did have a fun time getting to be the Goddamn Batman one last time before my opinion of Warner Bros withered and died like the Joker. That was mostly due to me playing the PS4 version while PC users were treated to a buggy, broken disaster. Also if you knew anything about Batman history you knew who the Arkham Knight was as soon as you heard him talk.

 Now funny enough apparently the Arkham Knight caught on with someone at DC since there’s an actual Arkham Knight in the comics now. Now before you say anything, no the Arkham Knight in the comics is not Jason Todd. Back on track Arkham Knight wasn’t the only problem since Scarecrow was a boring, droning putz who took himself way too seriously. But thankfully we had the surprise inclusion of the Joker with Mark Hamill’s second to last performance as the clown prince of crime before the bellyflop that was The Killing Joke. As the conclusion to the trilogy that helped repair the reputation of Superhero games it was satisfactory but Warner Bros and WB have burned too many bridges with me to give their games another chance, and that's truly a shame.

 Speaking of licenses in 2016 we got the brilliant return of Ratchet and Clank on the PS4. Now while I never saw the movie that the game was apparently tied into (and from what I heard that was for the best) this reboot got most of what made Ratchet and Clank work right gameplay wise. The game had the proper mix of platforming, gunplay, puzzle solving and a good bit of humor in the writing. I would complain about how Ratchet and Clanks early dynamic was off from how it was originally but since this was being told from Captain Quarks perspective (aka the most unreliable of narrators) I can let it slide since he most likely didn’t pay attention to those parts. Though that does bring up a bit of a problem with that excuse; namely. 

 Plot wise this was a remake of the first game only with Dr Nefarious added in as the evil scientist working for Chairman Drek. Sure, while we didn’t re-explore every planet from the first game it did expand on some of the smaller details on the planets that we do revisit. From what I can gather the movie seems to have the same problem that the Warcraft movie suffered from, namely being too faithful to the source material that it forgets to create a story that it appeals to others outside of the established fan base. But again that’s just what I’ve heard, I could be wrong. Regardless of the movies failings the game itself is a good introduction point to the new fans while being a great trip down memory lane for the old fans. It definitely makes a better showcase for the PS4 than Knack that’s for certain.

 Now before I made my pick for 2017 I initially thought that it would be Persona 5, since it was one of my most anticipated games this generation. But when I finally played the Switch rerelease last year and knowing the development history; I have to name Cuphead as my favorite game of 2017, at least retroactively. Now since Cuphead DLC was included in Smash Bros one can assume most people know about Cuphead through research and pop culture osmosis; bit you know what they say about assuming so here’s the rundown. Cuphead is a hard as nails 2d side scrolling boss rush game in the same vein as Alien Solder on the SNES. It was made by two brothers who remortgaged their houses to keep the project alive and to capture the feel of the Fleischer cartoon style they did the animation for every character by hand! 

 Let me repeat, they put their livelihoods on the line to get their uncompromised game out into the world. Now add on the fact that Cuphead was so critically and commercially received that the game now stands among the ranks of Shovel Knight and FNAF as one of the icons of the indie game market and that would have been enough but for it to be just so damn fun and challenging with era appropriate music, creative and challenging bosses and all for at 20 bucks sets it leaps and bounds over any other game in 2017. If you haven’t played Cuphead you need to rectify that ASAP!

 Now 2018 had the exact opposite problem of 2015 for me to pick the best game since there was so many candidates I could have picked if my runners up for that year were any indication. But my ultimate pick for 2018 was the PS4 Spider-Man. Just like the Arkham games you truly got to be Spider-Man, but unlike the overexposed, multimillionaire Goddamn Batman who constantly drones on about how he touched his dead mother's breast, Spider-Man’s entire premise is being relatable to the observer. Though that’s what my draw to this game is since, honestly I can’t stand 616 Peter Parker. Mostly attributed to One More Day Into The Spider-verse also showed how 616 Peter’s life is a complete and utter train wreck not helped by the writers constantly trying to put him into the “escapist fantasy” box and other people who have the name of Spider-Man just carry it better than him, like Gwen Stacy, Miguel O’Hara, Dr Octopus and yes even Miles Morales are all just better than main universe Peter. 

 But in this game we have a similar Peter Parker but thankfully not an exact copy. He has a better relationship with the NYPD, Mary Jane knows his secret identity but their relationship is on the rocks and spoilers; this Peter Parker takes the “great responsibility” part seriously when he didn’t waste the antidote to the Devils Breath on Aunt May before it could be mass produced. That moment is what cinched it for me, because I knew that main Peter Parker would be that big of a selfish, shortsighted idiot to put Aunt May over everyone in New York if the whole deal with Mephisto was enough of an indication. Spider aside the gameplay here is some of the best I’ve come across in a long time. Sure the combat system may take a few notes from the Arkham games such as the spider sense but unlike the detective vision it’s not game breaking nor does the combat system guarantee a block by pressing a button; it still relies on your skills as a player. 

 Also yes, THE WEB-SWINGING IS THE G.O.A.T! Just the feeling of swinging around New York climbing to the top of Avengers Tower and free falling into the concrete jungle down below and swinging around like an urban Tarzan was just downright magical. But then again these are the guys behind Ratchet and Clank and they know how to make a fun and entertaining game through and through. If you haven’t played this gem, rectify that immediately!

 Now to wrap this up we have the one game that several of us were waiting 13 years for, 2019 finally gave us Kingdom Hearts 3. Now did this game have some problems when it came out regarding the difficulty, yes. Did the story wrap up the Xehanort saga while still having Tetsuya Nomura’s less beloved little writing quirks such as sequel baiting, leaving some parts of the story unexplained or not explained well enough that a whole new set of DLC was released to retcon those parts, yes. Did this game still capture that feeling of childhood wonder, excitement and hopefulness even if you’re not a major fan of most of the Disney worlds, yes. Did this game draw out the ire of some of the worst parts of the gaming community for various reasons, sadly yes. 

 But no matter what anyone says about this game at least Square recognized the criticism and actually did something about it with the free Critical Mode update and the (sadly overpriced in my humble opinion) Re:Mind DLC. Whereas most other companies would have just left it and forget it to drive their reputations into the ground “cough Gearbox” “cough Bethesda” “cough Warner Brothers.” Now as a game KH3 is still a fun old time, though in my experience Proud mode was a bit too easy and Critical Mode took this game from zero to Cuphead in just a few Megabytes which was fine with me and at least you can unlock the Oblivion Keyblade by finishing Critical so there’s that. Now while KH2 is my overall favorite game in the series KH3 as of the Re:Mind DLC is a very close second.  So that wraps up my list of the favorite games of the decade per year. 

 From the end of the PS3, the failure of the Wii U, the end of Steam Greenlight to the rise of the loot box and its subsequent need for regulation to the mistake that was the Stadia and the constant disaster of Fallout 76. From the birth of both the PS4 and, honestly the best console so far the Switch; video games have had a rather interesting and turbulent ten years. Now speaking of Decade; since we’re in the Reiwa era now I have to give my thoughts on the last of the Hesei era of Kamen Rider. If this list didn’t kill me than the next one will, oh well I beat Cuphead, The Valkyrie Queen on Give me a Challenge and Yozora on Critical within the span of three months. Bring it on!

Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey is owned by Atlus, Sega and Lancarse.
Silent Hill Downpour is owned by Vatra games and Konami Computer Entertainment
Persona 4 Golden is owned by Atlus and Sega.
Rick and Morty is owned by Justin Rolland, Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland's Solo Vanity Card Productions, Harmonious Claptrap, Starburns Industries, and Williams Street
Pokémon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, Ken Sugumori and Statoshi Tajiri.
Ratatouille is owned by Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios and Brad Bird.
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is owned by Level-5 Games, Studio Ghibli and Namco Bandai.
Batman Arkham Knight is owned by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Rocksteady Studios and DC Comics
Ratchet and Clank is owned by Insomniac Games and Sony Computer Entertainment.
Dragon Ball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT and Dragonball Super is owned by Funnimation, Toei animation, Fuji TV and Akira Toriyama.
Dragon ball Z Abridged is owned by Team Four Star. 
Cuphead is owned by Studio MDHR and Chad and Jared Moldenhauer.
Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.

Demo Lets Play: Catherine Full Body: A true delicacy.

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

 Oh Catherine Full Body, this is something that I've been meaning to get to for a long time. Which is a personal mark of shame as a fan of Atlus' games. I got the original for Christmas a few years ago, never played it mostly due to me not being interested and College taking up most of my time, but now I have the chance to rectify my mistake with an enhanced remake for the PS4. Though I'll definitely save it for Christmas since there's still more games on my plate to deal with. I've heard it was hard as hell, but I'm always up for a challenge.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Catherine Full Body is owned by Atlus, Sega and Studio Zero

Video Game Review: Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth: It’s Showtime!!!

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

 The first Persona Q was a fun little slice of fan service for fans of Persona 3 and 4 seeing our favorite characters interact with each other, deal with bizarre new situations and still deliver a staple Persona gut punch to the heart with a story that manages to blend the themes of the two stories together. Those being the acceptance of Death and facing your darkest truths. So if we add another team of characters, an alternate universe rule 63 version of the Persona 3 lead and tack on the theme of rebelling against an unjust society, do you think that maybe there’s a risk of spoiling the broth? Those are some of my fears going into Persona Q2. Surprisingly not for the Switch but the 3DS again, you’d think that with Nintendo pushing the Switch as their new home/portable console you’d think that Atlus/Sega would take the hint, but no we get it on the 3DS. 

 And just like with SMT Strange Journey Redux I’m guessing that since Atlus is releasing this on a technically last gen device; they don’t feel the need to give these games an English dub and save some coin. But that just begs the question of why not release them on the Switch anyway with an English dub to keep that sec of the fandom happy? I’m not complaining I just think it’s kind of odd that they’re going about it like this. I'm guessing that it has to do with these mechanics working only on the 3DS. But hey at the end of the day we get more SMT goodness on the go without mobile micro transactions (or the ability to take a selfie with Jack Frost or Mara but hey there’s a price for everything I guess) so it’s all good by my books.

 As for the plot from what little I can glean since I’m avoiding spoilers is that the Phantom Thieves (mostly around their school festival due to the presence of Pancake Boy on the team before he stabs them in the back) are taking a page from Veiwtiful Joe and are venturing through the world of movies to undoubtedly solve the problem of some girl that will most likely be Rei 2.0 and be some ghost unable to pass on due to trauma. I mean she basically is Rei only her Zen is an older woman. Anyway these two are stuck in what I’m guessing is the abandoned movie theater near Leblanc, and this is tied into some odd Shadow called Doe that has a doofy looking mask that seems to have some connection to the new girl. As the Phantom Thieves venture through the movie worlds they’ll encounter and recruit the returning Persona characters. First we have the Female Protagonist from Persona 3 PSP in the movie Kamoshidaman where the rapist, child abusing power-mad scumbag is a Superhero. 

 Then we recruit the Persona 4 team in a Jurassic Park parody where apparently Diego Brando is ruining around since we see that some of the Persona 4 team is turning into Dinosaurs. Last we have the rest of the Persona 3 team in a movie where humanity has been replaced with Robots where one of them has developed individuality and their goal is to protect this A.I. But if the last Persona Q game was anything to go by there’s at least two more movie worlds after those but again I won’t be looking around for it any time soon. As for the combat and Personas if you've played the first Q game you should know what you're in for. We will have the Velvet Room but since there's no Social Links the Personas we get are just that, no extra EXP or anything.

 I could talk more about some of the potential features based on the first game but that will just be speculation. From getting new items from salvaging Shadow parts (and yes we're back to traditional Shadow designs instead of the Demons in Mementos, thankfully) to avoiding the F.O.E's that wander the Labyrinths; eventually coming back to beat them and get more items, EXP and potentially strong Personas. Hopefully there's no more of that Streetpass crap, cause I never used the thing and I doubt anyone will since the Switch is a thing now. But all that remains is to get Persona Q2 and see what happens. Now I know I promised that I'd go back to Homura's Revenge after the Month of Mayga man but, something fell into my lap that demands my attention, Heisei Generations Forever, the team up movie of Zi-O and Build, help me.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth is owned by Atlus and Sega.
Spongebob SquarePants is owned by Nickelodeon, Stephen Dillenburg, United Plankton Pictures, and Viacom International Media Networks

Tokusatsu Review: Toku Summer Recap: Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger Vs Keisatsu Sentai Patrangers: Persona 5 the Live (Spoilers)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

Before you even ask, no this isn't a movie this is an actual series. Now I have to wonder what the crossover with Dumbluck and his gang of idiots is going to be called.

 Now that our resident genius is covered for now we're ready for a game of cops and robbers. Thankfully there isn't as much story to cover as of this article so here's the gist of 2018's Sentai. Over 100 years ago the legendary thief Arsène Lupin amassed a vast collection across his career as a Gentleman thief. Among his prizes were a group of powerful and potentially dangerous artifacts which has been dubbed the Lupin Collection. However an organization of interdiminsional criminals called the Ganglar stole the Collection and have used their powers to commit terrible crimes. 

 Their Don, Dogranio Yaboon announces on his 999th birthday that he's looking for a successor to the Ganglar crime family, thus declares that whomever conquers the earth shall be named the new Don. Naturally every Ganglar is looking to take his place and begin plotting their various schemes to earn his favor. But there are two forces that stand in their way by using their own pieces of the Lupin Collection modified by the man himself to protect humanity, the Lupinrangers charged by Lupin's estate to recover the Collection pieces in exchange for a single wish, to resurrect their loved ones who were killed by a Ganglar. The other is the Patrangers charged by the Global Police with protecting the general public from the horrible crimes committed by the Ganglar. Who will win, whose justice will prevail in the end?

 On paper this sounds like an interesting concept for a Sentai, two separate teams with opposing viewpoints and yet equal motivations to stop the Ganglar. One is a rebellious group of thieves who risk their lives to prevent anyone else from suffering the way they have. The other is a group of officers sworn to protect the safety of the general public by any means necessary. But when you see it play out, it commits the ultimate sin of team ups, the Lupinrangers are portrayed far more positively then the Patrangers. In all honestly my feeling of the Patrangers' inclusion in this show can be summed up in this meme.

I'm betting Toei originally wanted a Phantom Thief themed Sentai to take advantage of the popularity of Persona 5, but decided to just include the Patrangers just for the sake of differentiating themselves from what they're clearly trying to cash in on.

 I'll get into why I feel the Patrangers are unnecessary and why the Lupinrangers are the real heroes of the show after I talk about them. Now Toei seems to have learned their lesson from Kyuuranger (for now at least) so instead of 12 characters that get all the development and attention focused on their reprehensible Red Ranger we instead have two teams of three making my job much easier in that there's less Rangers to cover and harder in that they're distinct. But enough malarky, first is our Red Thief, Kairi.

HA, I wish. A female Red Ranger right from the start, pfft, that'd be bullshit. (sarcasm)

No no, instead of a Keyblade wielder we have Kairi Yano who became Lupin Red to resurrect his older brother.  He's sly, cunning and sympathetic to people's suffering. Though does tend to focus on the Phantom Thief business to the chagrin of Umika who winds up getting overworked at their bistro.

Next is Tooma Yoimachi, he became Lupin Blue to resurrect his fiancée. While he's the most driven of the Lupinrangers this tends to cause him to take impulsive and reckless action in regards to obtaining the collection pieces from the Ganglar or the Patrangers which Kairi and Umika have to reign him in for before he goes too far. Wait, isn't this the other way around? It's usually the Red who's impulsive and the Blue who's the calm thinker. Though he is driven like that he does care for his teammates and will go above and beyond to see his fiancée again. 

Last for the Phantom Thieves is Lupin Yellow, Umika Hayami. Her dead loved one was her childhood friend Shiho.  Though she may appear be the weakest of the team she is the most resourceful and approachable. Though she may come off as childish she does take her mission as a Lupin Ranger very seriously, though she wouldn't mind if Kairi would help out more around the Bistro.

 I love the designs of the Lupinrangers their visors are shaped like a Top hat, the color balance of black and the primary color to look like a tuxedo and best of all is the capes.

 Edna darling, shut up these capes work. They're not long long enough for an enemy to take advantage of, the black on the shoulders contribute to the tuxedo design and two triangles on the collar of the cape look like a bowtie. All in all a classy and cool design. So now we have the thieves, we then move on to the cops. 

First is Patren 1gou Keichiro Asaka or as I like to call him; Dickhead since he's a detective who seems to only think with his other head. Yep we have another dumbass Red, just with a different flavor. Instead of a god modding idiot we have an impulsive, angry hothead who has a very black and white worldview and seems to only do his job to stroke his ego against the Lupinrangers. He claims to protect the public but on multiple occasions has been willing to perform reckless actions to stop the Ganglars and Lupinrangers such as when he drew out a fight with a Ganglar just to draw out the Lupinrangers. Or that time when he nearly got himself killed with poison just to show a kid how much cooler the Patrangers are then the Lupinrangers. Oh and most recently when he tried to kidnap Goodie (aka Good Striker a sentient collection piece charged by Lupin himself to protect the collection pieces that forms the basis of both teams mechs) and forcing him to serve the Global Police as a weapon against the Ganglars. I repeat, a supposed officer of the law, wanted to enslave a sentient being as a weapon to uphold Law and Order just because he was sent to them first.

 That is YHVH from SMT levels of Lawful Evil. You know, the guy whose most powerful minions were literally designed by the guy behind Garo.

 Though at least Dickhead is far more tolerable then Wrong, Leftovers or Dumbluck for four reasons. One, Tsukasa more often then not does call him out on his crap. (Though why their commander Hilltop hasn't is beyond me.) Second, the show doesn't over glorify his actions or make him right when everything says that he's wrong, most of the time. Third, he's not the only Red for the show, so if you don't like Dickhead we can cheer on Kairi. Lastly, the show's not over yet. We've had this type of Red before with the exact same theme, Banban Akaza aka Dekared from Dekaranger had a similar personality and temperament at the start of the show but he did grow and develop as a character. Also from little info I was able to gleam about the 6th Ranger Lupin/Patren X his whole goal is to bring the two teams together to focus on the Ganglar so part of that will hopefully involve Keichiro getting over his ego and seeing the bigger picture.

Moving on to slightly better characters we have Sakuya Hikawa, Patren 2go. He's the rookie cop who is just one step away from Umika getting him a restraining order. He has a crush on her and is not subtle about it at all. He has a much more laid back attitude which of course rattles Dickhead's cage but he does care about his duties.

Lastly is my favorite of the Patrangers, Tsukasa Myoujin. She's the mother hen of the group, routinely motivating Sakuya and occasionally reprimanding Dickhead when he crosses the line. She also has a running gag about her love of odd plushies despite not being the stereotypical girly girl.

 Before I get into my major gripes of the show I'll say that what worked for the Lupinrangers' costumes also works for the Patrangers. Design wise they're complete inversions of the Lupinrangers, Police hats instead of Top hats for the visors, white with their primary colors instead of black looking like a police uniform along with actual shoulder pads instead of the capes, overall a good design. While they're supposed to be the best of the Japanese branch of the Global Police the Lupinrangers more often then not use them to draw out the Ganglar of the week rather easily. So basically denigrating one faction of this vs series to make the other team look better by comparison. This show commits the ultimate sin of any team up to feed into Japans negative perception of their cops.

 Now occasionally the Patrangers do display their competency and manage to nearly expose the Lupinrangers, but to make up for that the Patrangers have been given some of the dumbest episodes so far. Like the aforementioned Dickhead trying to impress the random brat episode and of course they got a gender swap episode, and yes the jokes were bad and insulting why'd you expect any less? Though the second part of that two parter exposed the biggest problem with the Patrangers, when Dickhead was hospitalized for the poisoning caused by his recklessness Sakuya and Tsukasa actually managed to do much better against the Ganglar despite their injuries (again a result of Dickhead's reckless actions yet he's never held accountable, because of course.) But when Dickhead forced himself out of the hospital and defeated the Ganglar it was back to business as usual.

 This idiot even nearly caused the Lupinrangers to fall into despair when it looked like he destroyed a Ganglar before the Lupinrangers were able to retrieve his Collection Piece. Though from what I can tell its never made clear whether the Patrangers know about the collection pieces, what they can do, the Ganglars having extra powers because of them, the wish, why the Lupinrangers are so desperate to get to them first it just seems like they just focus on the Ganglar regardless of the consequences. Now because I'm me I have a suggestion that would clear up this whole ambiguous part of the show and possibly improve it, make the Patrangers know about the Collection Pieces from the start and actively try to destroy them. Have them know that the collection pieces are what gives the Ganglar extra powers as well as the wish that they can grant when all of them are brought together and try to destroy them not only because of the first reason but also to prevent a dangerous person from amassing the pieces to try to become a god, take over the world, destroy the world or something crazy like that. But even when they eventually learn about what the Lupinrangers are trying to wish for have them still go after them.

 But this is the key part, have them be sympathetic towards wanting to resurrect their loved ones but try to push a "the dead can't come back, you have to accept their deaths, tragic and pointless though it may be otherwise this desire will consume and destroy you" point of view. They can possibly relate with them by talking about some of their loved ones who were pointlessly killed and have that be a contributing factor behind why they joined the Global Police. Besides anyone who has seen any piece of fiction ever can tell you what happens when you try to resurrect someone with supernatural means.

Unless you're using the Dragonballs to resurrect someone

they tend to come back horribly, horribly wrong!!!

 This way we have a legitimate reason why these two groups are trying to reach the Ganglar first, have some understandable conflict between the two teams and make the Patrangers actually sympathetic and likable. We can both see their points of views and hope that either the Patrangers agree to help the Lupinrangers to ensure that the wish is only used for non violent means or have the Lupinrangers eventually accept the potential risk of the wish, move past their grief and join forces with the Patrangers to stop the Ganglar. Or we could just have one team outwit a pair who are stuck with a hotheaded ball and chain around their ankles. We could have Captain America Civil War, but Toei seems set on settling for being at least just above Batman V Superman, though all thats missing is for one of the characters to say "Martha" and the show will officially go down the toilet.

 I'll just naively hope that the show gives Dickhead the character development he desperately needs with the intro of Lupin/Patren X but somehow I know Toei is just going to keep the spotlight on the Lupinrangers until they eventually make the Patrangers into flat-out secondary antagonists. Or even worse have the two join up just because with no real development or camaraderie between the two. Though this is still a far better show then Kyuuranger and I do like it despite its flaws so give it a watch if you want too. Besides it's still a better adaptation of Persona 5 then Persona 5 the animation.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Super Sentai is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Kingdom Hearts 2 is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.
The Incredibles are owned by Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios and Buena Vista Pictures.
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse/Final is owned by Atlus, Sega and Kazuyuki Yamai.
Solomon Grundy is owned by DC Comics, created by Alfred Bester and Paul Reinman
Fullmetal Alchemist is owned by Studio Bones, Square-Enix, Funimation, Viz Media and Hiromu Arakawa.

Video Game Review: Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey Redux/ Deep Strange Journey: Back into the Black hole!

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 Of all the SMT games that deserve a remake and rerelease for modern consoles this one is a personal delight. I wasn't always a fan of the Megami Tensei games, hell I never really heard of them till my brother got a used copy of Persona 4 for the PS2. So I decided "eh why not", gave it a try and the rest as they say is that. Now while I learned more about Persona I learned inevitably about the franchise that Persona spun off from, the Megami Tensei series. But this was before SMT 3 and the other PS2 games were on the PSN store so I decided to go with a rather obscure spin off that surprisingly didn't get a sequel.

 So I went to my local Gamestop I think, picked up a used copy and thus Strange Journey became my very first non Persona SMT game and BOY was it a different breed compared to Persona 4. From the setting to the story and the Pokemon esc demon recruiting mechanic, bone grinding difficulty, morally system and multiple endings Strange Journey was a breath of fresh air in the same way Persona 4 was when I first played it. But enough of my reminiscing I'll give a general recap of the game but for this rerelease you really should go in cold. Unlike the Persona series past Eternal Punishment were we play as anime trope #245, the transfer student; we're playing as a United Nations special ops solder who has been assigned to a strike team that has been sent to investigate a mysterious space which has materialized in the South Pole that threatens to swallow the entire world. Once they get inside they find that there's no way to contact the outside world and they can't get out the same way they came in.

 So for this game we've been essentially banished to the Black hole.

 They penetrate the blag ole called the Schwarzwelt and being an SMT game there's demons all over the place and they want to escape and rip every humans face off. Though personally I can't tell which is worse the demons or being trolled to death by the Gatekeeper. Before they find out for themselves the crews of all the strike teams ships all receive a vision from an unknown source, and with it the Demon Summoning Program is uploaded to their special combat suits called Demonicas that allow them to communicate with and control demons. So with their new demons our protagonist and the crew of the Red Sprite must venture into the heart of the Schwarzwelt and destroy it to save Earth. However there are several factions who want to use the Schwarzwelt for their own purposes, including the Three Wise Men, a mysterious blond girl, a black haired, black winged angel named Mastema, the Mothers of the Schwarzwelt and now for the 3DS remake; a mysterious woman called Alex as well as Zeus and Demeter, maybe.

 Regarding the characters I won't go into too much detail as usual. Even though this is a remake of a 9 year old game I really want you to experience it for yourselves and avoid spoilers, so only names and basic characterization will be detailed here.

First is our protagoinist. There's nothing about him when you start. The only unique thing about him is his nationality depending on which version you're playing. If you're playing the English release he's from the US and the Japanese version he's from Japan. He really is nothing more then a player avatar.

Next is the Captain of the Red Sprite Commander Gore.  He dies within the first hour of the game. That's all I can say for now. Also yes he is clearly named after Al Gore. But he is important to the story I'm being super duper cereal.

Now we have the AI of the Red Sprite, Arthur. After Commander Gore dies Arthur is made the new commander of the Red Sprite. Though Arthur the Crew of the Red Sprite receives the Demon Summoning Program.

Following up is Jimenez, the Chaos partner of our story. A private contractor from the US he's the only member of the Blue Jet to survive the crash and subsequent attack by the resident demons. He's not afraid to speak his mind though is rather pessimistic and confrontational, though he is on friendly terms with his personal Demon Bugaboo and the Protagonist. 

On to our law aligned partner Zelenin. She's a scientist from Russia and is a survivor from the third ship, the Elve. And after she survived her time in Sector Bootes, let's just say she's not all that willing to use the DSP anytime soon. That is until she encounters Mastema.

Mastema, also known as Mansemat, is an angel of persecution and hostility as cited from the literature of Israel's Second Temple Period. In this regard, he is also similar to Satan, who held more or less the same portfolio in other books of the period. Mastema is said to be the angel that unleashed the ten plagues of Egypt and attempted to kill Moses. In this game he's an angel supposedly sent by God to investigate the Schwarzwelt but seems to be following his own agenda. While he claims to be following the orders of God Jiminez correctly doesn't trust the guy as far as he can throw him. Though he does help the crew of the Red Sprite they do keep this angel at arms length.

Last and the newest character in this remake is Alex. All I know about her is that she has her own AI George and she wants to kill me badly for some reason.

 Gameplay wise you'll be navigating the various dungeons, referred to as sectors in this game by a first person perspective with a map on the bottom screen that fills out as you progress through the level. Basically if you've played Etrian Odyssey or Persona Q Shadow of the Labyrinth you'll be familiar with how it all works. But unless you get to recruiting demons and getting new and better equipment you'll be stomped on rather quickly. You'll get new weapons by bringing back Forma that you collect from Demons (though negotiation, defeating them or as a reward for leveling up.) Some forma can only be found in specific sectors or as rewards for side-quests, again much like Persona Q.

 But you won't be able to survive on new equipment alone, every good solder does need trustworthy squad-mates after all, and luckily for you these demons will always work for you, provided you know what their price is. A major factor in recruiting demons in this game is dependent on your moral alignment. By default you'll be neutral-neutral, but as you answer certain dialogue routes you'll sway between the Chaos and Law alignment. If you're lawful then Chaos demons will be harder to negotiate with and the opposite is true too so if you're looking to draft a new demon you better be on the same page ya hear? However there's three conditions where you cannot recruit demons, if the demon is an Unknown, the moons phase is full (unless you have a certain sub-app equipped) and if the demons' secondary alignment is Dark so you'll have to fuse those particular demons or get really lucky and run into them during the full moon with the aforementioned sub-app.

 Or you could just summon a demon by imputing a password, you can find the Passwords for all demons by checking out the SMT Wiki. The music is a radical departure from most of the Megaten series. Once again Shouji Meguro was the composer for this game so surprise, surprise despite the tone it fits this game like a glove. While most of the games I've played that he worked on have gone for a rock, synth and pop style depending on which game it is Strange Journey is much more serious and dire. Apparently he was told to compose it like if it were a movie so he went for a military orchestration with Gregorian chanting, drums and violins.

 Which makes sense for a joint military operation to save the world, the clock is ticking closer to doomsday so it's all business and it really stresses the dire and serious tone of the setting. So all in all when Strange Journey Redux comes out be sure to pick it up. If you're only familiar with the Megaten franchise through Persona this may be what gets you to check out the other areas of the franchise like I did. They're all still great games, made by the same company so equip your Demonica and get out into the field to kick some demon ass! Rip and tear, rip and tear, rip and tear their guts!

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey Redux/Deep Strange Journey is owned by Atlus, Sega and Lancarse.
Atmosfear is owned by J.W. Spear & Sons, Mattel and Flying Bark Productions.

Video Game Review: Persona 5: Surprise it's really good.

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 Yes Gentle Thieves and femme fatales we finally have Persona 5 after quite a long time and by Philemon it's been worth it. Now I honestly don't want to talk too much about it because you really need to play this game for yourselves. "But I've never played Personas 1-4 so why would you expect me to just jump on the bandwagon now?" First off, you've never played the previous games? Fix that asap, at least start off with Persona 3 FES then 4 Golden and then play 5, and 2 they're all self contained stories so continuity is no problem. (Aside from Persona's 1 and both of the 2's but that's a topic for another day.)

 Lastly I have several comprehensive articles of the first game's re-release on the PSP so follow these links, learn the basics and then play what is currently my game of the year. 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Finale

 So if you've read up and whatnot here's what I feel safe in telling you, you play as a kid found guilty of a crime he didn't commit, he escaped from a maximum security stockade into the Tokyo underground, there he and several of his new contacts survive as Phantom Thieves of hearts. If you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you can find them then maybe you can hire; The Phantom Thieves.

 Ok I joke but I'm not telling how but he does get transferred to Tokyo and Shujin Academy where he meets up with some social outcasts; they discover their Personas, get badass outfits, fight a bunch of borderline Disney evil levels of villains you know how it goes. Am I done, no, fine I'll tell you more, at least about how this version improves over Persona 4. First the dungeons and the combat have gotten a major exciting overhaul. Instead of just wandering around themed dungeons with randomly generated floors we now have unique Palaces that feature smart and fun stealth sections that really sell the prospect of being a thief. 

 These stealth mechanics that not only helps to capture the experience but also helps you to get the drop on your enemies. Speaking of the enemies, while they're still called shadows they're basically classic demons with a different name. Which brings us to the reintroduction to the negotiation system, as with classic SMT games you can only get new personas by negotiating with Shadows to make them remember their original natures, you could also hold them up to try and shake them down for extra cash and or items at the cost of exp.

 But you'll have to choose very carefully because both Money and levels are more necessary then ever in Persona 5, you'll need an insane and consistent amount of cash to upgrade your equipment, boost your personality and some will be required to talk to your confidants. While you can steal from the Palaces to get stuff to sell in the real world be forewarned that once a boss is beaten their respective Palace is gone for good meaning that you'll either have to wait till the next target, work part time jobs or grind for exp in Mementos, this game's equivalent of Tartarus while taking care of jobs for people who post on the official Phantom Thief Phansite. 

 Next the music in this game is diverse and near perfect. Once again Shouji Meguro is the composer and he and Lotus Juice knock it out of the park. Though if you do for some reason get tired of Next Surprise (though god knows how) and the teams usual outfits you can change to classic Persona and other Altus music and costumes from DLC. Speaking of while some DLC does have classic Personas and their Requiem; I mean "Picaro" versions they aren't needed to fill out the compendium. 

 Now for those who are worried about getting 100% of the trophies on your first run, don't worry since two trophies will only be available in New Game Plus so you can just focus your first run on building you social points and your team's confidants to get their ultimate Personas. Then once that's done just follow a online guide for your second play through and that platinum is as good as done. So what else is there to say? This is one of the best Persona games in the series and this is your perfect chance to join in and see what you've been missing out on.

Persona 5 is owned by Atlus and Sega.